


i'll be just fine (as long as i'm here with you)

by robelernst



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Canon Era, M/M, buttonsmorris trash b ye, this has been on tumblr for a while so i though i'd post it here while i have an account ??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-21
Updated: 2015-06-21
Packaged: 2018-04-05 10:13:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4175982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robelernst/pseuds/robelernst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Morris gives gifts. Buttons smiles a lot. Decisions have to be made.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i'll be just fine (as long as i'm here with you)

**_one._ **  


they had been friends long before the strike.  
  
it started with morris. morris, who found a shiny, yellow button on the ground one day. morris, who thought of the newsie he'd seen picking them up off the street while pretending to tie his shoe. morris, who couldn't remember the newsie's name. morris, who, on a whim, pocketed it to remember to give to him later.  
  
it's not a until a week later, while morris is the one granting the newsies their papes, does he remember the button shoved into his front pocket.  
  
morris watches as the newsie (buttons as his uncle has just called him, which is fitting, morris figures) walks up, his smile small, but bright, with his palms open for the day's stack of papers. 

morris notices a lot of things about this boy in the 20 seconds he spends staring at him. he notices the freckles splashed across his face. and how his long, wild curls seem untamable. how his fingers seem to constantly be twitching, as if he’s nervous or distracted. 

uncle weisel slams his hand down on the stack of papes before he can look any longer.  
  
he slips the small button into the newsie's hands along with the stack. before buttons can question him, morris gives him a glare and waves him off.  
  
(but, he might be watching as the boy grins widely at the button in his hand, as the newsie reaches down to tie his shoe and carefully slips the button into his sock, as he gives morris a smile with the tilt of his head before he stumbles back into the group of newsies leaving out the gates. and, as morris watches the gates close again he might be thinking about being on the look out for another button next time he's walking down the road.)  


~*

**_two._ **

buttons isn't exactly sure how he's gotten where he is.  
  
well, he is, it's only a staircase and a few doors. but, never had he ever thought that someday he'd be sitting on the rooftop of an abandoned building, waiting for a delancey brother to show. (and definitely not that he'd be doing it more than once)  
  
buttons flips a button in his hand absentmindedly, watching as the stars appear one by one. he feels anxious, oddly, mixed with a feeling in his chest he can't define, but has never felt before. and, the fact that morris hasn't arrived yet definitely does not help.  
  
just as he's about to get ready to leave, there's a light tapping on the door before it opens to reveal morris delancey, with an apologetic smile and his arms behind his back, obviously hiding something.  
  
while morris moves to sit next to him, buttons cranes his neck to try and get a better look at what's behind morris' back. but, he has no luck when the older boy takes a seat next to him and hides it away from view.  
  
buttons relaxes again, rubbing his neck as he asks curiously, "you hidin’ something there, morris?"  
  
"'course not, why would you say that?" the other counters, but he's betrayed by the nervous ruffling of his hands on something next to him.

buttons cocks an eyebrow in suspicion, but decides to let it go. morris will tell him eventually. instead of questioning further he says, "tell me somethin'."

'tell me something,' originated from their first meeting like this. after the fourth button morris had gifted him, buttons had felt the need to finally thank him. so just before morris could shoo him away again, buttons whispered to meet him on the rooftop of an old building he knew no one would even glance at. and he hadn't really expected morris to show up. after a thousand thank you's that night, they should have left, it should have ended there. but instead, buttons had prompted morris to talk to him about something, anything. and much to his surprise (as many things are when it comes to morris), morris obliged, told him a story about his brother that happened that day. it was short and morris' voice had still been quiet and guarded, but buttons had listened in what felt like a trance. the next time, because of course there had to be a next time, it was buttons’ turn to tell, and morris listened in the same way buttons had before.

now, morris is more open to him, and buttons is glad for that. the older boy speaks quickly, re-enacting facial expressions and waving his hands about a bit. buttons listens and laughs, thinking about how odd it still seems to be laughing with one of the delancey brothers. but, he thinks about how much he loves, and anticipates, his nights with morris. he gets the strange feeling in his chest again just before he realizes he’s not really listening to morris anymore, just staring at his lips.

morris seems to notice this too when his face scrunches up and he lets out an annoyed huff, “won’t give you your present if ya don’t listen, butt.” 

buttons’ eyes narrow slightly at the nickname, but any irritation dissipates as the word, present, clicks in his mind. “a present?” the words can’t help but escape his mouth, even if he sounds like a child when they do. 

morris laughs and pulls out what he was hiding before, a package wrapped in brown paper with a string of twine tied around it. buttons unwraps it carefully, eyes lighting up at the sight before him. it’s a book, not just that, it’s a book of poems. by john keats. 

buttons has only one poem by john keats. bright star is scrawled on a crinkled up paper and hidden underneath buttons’ mattress back at the lodging house, replaced there every night since the day he found it half-submerged in a puddle in an alleyway. buttons spent an entire month making other newsies read it to him and reading it himself so that he could learn all the hard words, and eventually memorize it.

now, with an entire book full of poems written by the best (and only, really) poet he knows, he has no idea how to thank morris. 

when the idea comes to him, he doesn’t really think at all.

morris isn’t looking at him, so buttons moves his hand to the other boy’s chin. he lifts morris’ head so that he’s looking at buttons, and before he can stop himself, buttons leans in and kisses him.

it’s quick, sweet, if anything. buttons pulls away, flushed and nervous. nervous that morris will push him away. nervous that morris won’t speak to him anymore. nervous that morris will hate him forever. nervous that morris will go away.

instead, morris smiles, his cheeks pink as well, and pulls buttons back to him. their lips meet again, but this time it’s much better. more comfortable and purposeful. any stress that either of them had before is gone and is replaced by the warm feeling being in each other’s arms bring.

when they pull away again, neither of them can stop the smiles from spreading on their faces.

~*

**_three._ **

morris knows what he’s doing is wrong.

he knows that this kid, crutchie, he remembers, doesn’t deserve this. none of these kids do. and morris knows that, because buttons knows that. and everything buttons knows about his friends is true, it has to be. but, even with this knowledge, morris and his brother continues to beat the boy, with his own crutch, till he’s practically sobbing and shouting for “jack! jack, please! jack!” 

when the kid has been dragged away, morris feels like collapsing. or punching a wall. he doesn’t remember seeing buttons getting beat down, but then again, morris can barely remember all that’d happened just a few minutes ago. it feels like it had been a dream, but he knows it wasn’t, the blood on his knuckles proves it.

his brother claps him on the back and it startles morris; he’d forgotten he was still standing there. “we did good,” oscar says proudly. oscar, who had always been there, even after dolores had left them to travel west and morris had been so sure oscar would leave too. oscar, who had always said they only had each other to lose. oscar, who morris had always agreed with. now, he’s not so sure. 

he does punch a wall, breaks the skin of his still bloody knuckles. he doesn’t feel better.

~*

**_four._ **

buttons is ready to yell at morris.

he’s ready to get all of his pent up anger out of his body and into the air, ready to make morris listen to him. 

but then, morris shows up, sits down, and says, “i miss you," and buttons practically crumbles into his arms. 

they sit there for a long time, both lost in the feeling of how good it feels to be together and in each other’s arms again. eventually, morris murmurs, “i’m sorry,” and buttons suddenly remembers that he’s angry at him. and why.

he pulls away and faces the older boy, places his hands on top of morris’, “he’s my friend, morris. they all are. and you hurt them,” he pauses and wraps his fingers around morris’ wrists gently, “not to mention you put yourself in danger, and i know i was out there too, but-- we both coulda been killed out there, and neither of us would’ve been the wiser.”

morris pulls his hands away as if he’s been burned and gives buttons a hard stare, something buttons hasn’t had directed towards him in months. he's quiet for a long time before he starts talking, explaining, even though it doesn't feel like he is to buttons. “i had to do what was best for me, for my brother, buttons. ya know how much shit we had to go through together, after mom died, after dad left, after lori left? he’s been the only one i could trust for years, i couldn’t do nothin’ to stop him-- us. at least i got oscar, whatever happened to your leader, hm? jack kelly fled first sight of the cops and left you to fend for yourselves. at least i can say i got someone to look out for me,” it comes out rushed and angry and harsh. now, buttons is the one who feels like he's been burned.

it’s now that buttons considers what morris is to him. he knows they surpassed friends a long time ago. and, sometime between then and now, they had gone from friends who kiss to something more. now, buttons feels like they’re back at square one, where they’re just a newsie and a delancey brother, and everyone knows those two don’t mix. he wonders if they’ll ever escape square one.

he thinks morris expects him to walk away and never speak to him again, he can see it in his face when he starts out with an “i’m sorry,” morris looks unsurprised, but his eyes are sad and knowing, as if he always knew it would end like this. buttons continues slowly, “it’s nunna my business to tell you what to do, or who to trust. i won’t make you choose between me and your own brother, but the newsies are my brothers. they mean as much to me as oscar means to you. i just need you to understand that.” morris stares at him but doesn’t say anything. “i don’t need you to apologize because i won’t forgive you, and i know you won’t forgive me. but, i don’t want to leave. and it’s selfish, but i don’t want you to leave neither.” buttons laces his fingers in morris’, relieved the other is letting him do so, “i won’t make you do anythin’, but if y’do leave, i want you to remember me askin’ you to stay. so, please, morris, stay with me?”

morris makes his decision.

~*

**_five._ **

jack is the first to notice.

he notices how soft morris goes around buttons. he doesn’t remember the delanceys ever playing favorites, but he sees it in buttons too; how he smiles at morris like he’s the sun. he notices how often they touch, little brushes that occur too often to be accidental. they speak too. whisper in each other’s ears when they think nobody’s looking. he notices buttons slipping out of bed late at night and back again early in the morning, sometimes with a new button or poem, but always with a smile on his face. during the strike, he notices the longing looks they give each other when one isn’t looking. when they win; when they finally win, he notices buttons being pulled into a corner away from the celebration, notices morris leaning down to kiss him, notices buttons leaning up to whisper in his ear, notices the smile that spreads on morris’ face, notices their hand entwined and perfectly fit, as if they were always meant to be like that.

jack is the first to question buttons about it, the first to see buttons wide eyes and mouth dropping open in surprise, the first to assure him that it’s alright.

the first to have the smile he’s only ever seen granted to morris, directed at him.

**Author's Note:**

> for more of my trash ship, follow my [tumblr](http://ofrobel.tumblr.com/)!! (also, so sorry this is all in lower-case, i'll use the shift button more often next time, i promise!)


End file.
